As parents, there are many ways to help your child in the area of Maths. By using Maths language in everyday situations, you can support the work being done in school:
- Try to include some of the ideas below in your daily routines.
- Try to make Maths fun at home.
- Sing songs, recite rhymes and read stories that have a number in them.
- Simple dot to dot puzzle books and games such as Snakes and Ladders are great ways of practising number order.
Helping at home
- Match socks into pairs.
- Let your child help with the cooking. Ask them to get 2 eggs etc. Let them help with measuring.
- Count objects.
- Separate the coloured/white clothes before using the washing machine.
- Separate clothing into correct piles- Mum/Dad/each child etc.
- Separate objects into correct categories- put all the tin cans/cups/ spoons together etc.
- Encourage your child to sort his/her toys into groups- red/blue bricks, big/small teddies etc.
Calendar
Look at your calendar with your child. Ask them questions relating to it, such as:
- What day of the week is it? Today is……
- What day was yesterday?
- What day will it be tomorrow?
- What month is it?
- How many days in a week?
- Let’s say the months of the year.
- What season is it?
- Can you name all the seasons?
Telling the time
- Encourage your child to look at the clock. Ask them to be “Timekeeper”. Ask them to tell you when it is 2 o’clock.
- Play games like “What Time Is It Mr. Wolf?”
- Read stories that have time in them.
- Help your child develop a sense of time e.g. We’ll play Snakes and Ladders – after we eat our dinner.
Shape
- What 2d shapes can you see?
- What 3d shapes can you see?
- What shapes can you see?
- What shapes are the signposts?
- Play “Guess My Shape”- Encourage your child to try to identify a shape you are thinking about, but answer only using Yes/No. E.g Does it have 3 sides?
Setting the table
- How many people are there?
- How many knives/forks do we need?
- Do we have enough/too many?
- Match cups to plates.
- Where do we put the knives (left/right)?
- Separate cutlery into correct categories- put all the spoons together etc.
Bed time
- How many ears does the Teddy have?
- Can you count the stairs as we go to bed?
- Sequence the day-what did we do today (in order)?
- Who will be first/last to get into bed?
Out and about
- What colours can you see?
- Play “I’m thinking of a number”- Pick a number between1-10, 1-20 and allow your child to guess what it is.
- In the car or out and about, ask your child to try simple addition- 2 and 3 makes?, 4 and 1 makes?
- Who will be first/second/third to get into the car?
- Count the blue cars.
- How many trucks can you count?
- What numbers can you see?
- How many doors can you count?
At the supermarket
- Can you get 3 tins of beans for me?
- Find a big/small bag of pasta.
- Put 4 tomatoes in a bag.
- I have 3 apples in this hand and one orange in this hand, how much fruit do I have altogether?
- Create a shop at home. Allow your child to make price tags for items around the home, and play “shop” with them. “Can I have an apple and a pizza? How much does that cost?”.
At the restaurant
- How many menus/glasses/plates etc do we need?
- Who ordered chips?
- How many people ordered pizza?
- Who has the biggest/smallest dinner?
Money
- Find the biggest coin.
- Find the smallest coin.
- Is it worth the most/least?